Masters Generation Redux
by Waves of Wind
Summary: Kanto lashes out towards it's neighbouring regions without warning and before defences can be raised. In weeks, full control lies with the 4 Nation Army and their 'Masters', soldiers with unusual powers. Some favor this new unity, but some fight back.


It was deep in the night and the sky had turned black. Not a star could be seen and light was rare, only seen when the moon peaked through a gap in the blanket of clouds. Yet, even in this darkness, a clearing at the base of mount Chimney was bathed in bright orange light. In the middle of the clearing, stood a young woman. She seemed to be about nineteen years old and had long orange hair, tied off and spiking out at the back of her head. She was wearing blue jeans, black shoes, and a short-sleeved T-shirt that left her waist bare, with a red flame on it. She looked up at the night sky and a smile played over full lips. "One more." Her eyes shone with energy and excitement, burning as brightly as the fire that washed over fingertips.

The woman lifted her hands and spun rapidly on one feet. Once, twice, thrice and finally four times she spun as she balanced perfectly on one foot. Flames danced around her, swirling and twisting as if they had a mind of their own, illuminating her face and body with deep orange light. She leaped gracefully, landed on one foot and made a sweeping motion with her other leg, sending a large wave of flames forward. She jumped up in to the air and flipped, brining her leg down in an axe kick which sent another wave of flames through the clearing. She rolled and jumped to her feet, grasping something that had been hanging from her hip and slashing at the slowly dying flames. The flames responded to the movement and flowed to the instrument clasped tightly in her hands. She twirled and slashed, never standing still for more than a second, always moving as fluidly as a river.

More flames flowed from her body and flowed freely around her, slowly being drawn in by the instrument in her hand. Before long, a trail of blazing flames followed every swipe of the instrument. Her movements sped up and the flames seemed to grow. She twirled the instrument in her fingers and spun, crossing her legs with each step to allow her to rotate. After the third spin, she added a small bounce to the movement, rising up a few inches from the ground every time. She finally stopped and closed her eyes with a content sigh. "Fly." She slashed upwards and the flames burst free from the instrument in her hands. They concentrated themselves in to a wide column and slowly began to shift and twist as they ascended.

Some of the flames in the front flowed back to the middle to form a row of spikes, while others narrowed and formed a thin streak of flames flowing towards either side. The front of the column split in two and slowly took the shape of a long mouth, filled with sharp fangs. Flames broke free and flowed to the bottom to form four thin legs, which ended in three-toed claws. The fiery creature turned around and slowly descended. It wrapped itself around its creator and the woman stroked the dragon's head.

She ran a finger over one of the dragon's whiskers and opened her eyes to study her creation. "Looks like it's getting easier. I can't wait to show mom and dad. Even grandpa can't complain about this." She shifted slightly and the light of the flames spilt over the instrument in her hands. It was a rapier with a long, silver, blade. The weapon's handle had been wrapped in brown leather and the dull golden guard had been decorated with bright, orange, flames. The bottom of the rapier's handle had been shaped like a Flareon's head, with a ring clenched between its teeth. Glinting in the light of the flames, was a rainbow colored feather that had been attached to the ring by a short, silver chain.

Her attention was drawn away from the dragon by a loud rustling noise coming from the bushes. The dragon's head swiveled to look at the bushes and she tightened her grip on the rapier, a grim look on her face. "Who's there? You have 10 seconds before I roast you." Several more rustling noises followed and, to her surprise, a large group of men and women walked out of the bushes. She raised an eyebrow and studied the people around her. They were all carrying weapons and wearing a uniform she recognized all too well. Black, armored, shirts with a small, green, N over their hearts. Long black jeans, with thick pads over the knees and grey, lightweight, helmets with the same N as the shirts. "What business does the Four Nation Army have in my domain without informing me of their presence first?"

One of the men stepped forward and bowed. Three red stripes on both shoulders labeled him the leader of the group, as did the aura of power and the large bastard sword strapped to his back. He had dirty blonde hair that spiked up at the back and brown eyes that nervously scanned the clearing even as he straightened up. "My apologies, lady Flannery. We only arrived half an hour ago and did not wish to disturb your sleep. We never expected to meet the princess of flames this late at night."

Flannery raised an eyebrow and nodded. "I train alone. It ensures few people know of my style before challenging me." The man chuckled dryly and tried his best to put on a charming smile. "I'm sure that a gym leader, like yourself, has a need to keep things like that hidden. I prefer to train with others, though. It allows people to criticize my style, if need be."

Flannery rolled her eyes and the dragon still coiled around her let out a small puff of flame. "Let's cut the small talk. What town needs to be raided now? I'm getting rather sick of the amount of raiding parties in this region." The man stopped bothering to smile and glared at her. "Looks like you won't have to for much longer. I trust you know what happened to the last few raiding parties?" Flannery grinned at that. Of course she knew. The few newspapers that had escaped the government's control had a field day with it. "Dead to the last man. It was good to finally read some happy news. Six in a row too. I guess the Four Nation Army just isn't what it used to be anymore."

"You bitch!" One of the men growled as he reached for his pokéballs. He stopped when his leader raised a hand and called to him without taking his eyes away from Flannery. "This woman is still a gym leader, Jonson. She could rip you apart on a whim." Flannery raised an eyebrow at this and giggled quietly. "Aw, I'm not that mean. I don't challenge little men who couldn't beat me if I fought with a broken toothpick." This time the leader growled in annoyance, glaring dangerously at Flannery. "Then I'm sure you'll want to prove that, girl, once we raid your hometown."

Flannery's palm shot forward and the dragon shot of with the sound of rushing flames. It shot past the leader and slammed in to the ground just behind him, setting the grass ablaze and separating him from his troops by a large wall of flames. "Why Lavaridge? My family is the only family with actual abilities! Are you gonna raid a whole town just for that?" Her cries went unanswered as the leader turned around to study the flames, which were now closing around them in a large circle. He extended his hand towards the wall of flames, but quickly pulled it back when the heat threatened to burn his skin. He glanced up and chuckled softly. "Very well done. It takes high levels of control to control what the fire burns. Lower leveled Fire Masters would have started a wildfire if they attempted this."

"ANSWER ME!" The flames trembled at her outburst and the man turned around with a sigh. "Impatient woman. Fine. This never made it in to the newspapers, but one of our men managed to stay alive until his superiors arrived. He claimed the entire party had been slaughtered by a single man." He shook his head and made an exasperate movement with his hand. "He'd long been gone, of course, but it did teach us something. We decided to look at where the parties that had been attacked had been and we learned something quite interesting from that." He reached in to his pocket and took out a crumpled map, which he held out to her. "See for yourself." Flannery grumbled under her breath and reluctantly walked over and snatched the map from his hand.

She unfolded the map and tilted it slightly so the light of the flames would allow her to read it. It was a standard map of the Hoenn region, with six X's drawn in at different locations. The first two were near Rustboro city, two others were in and near Dewford town and the last two were on either side of Mauville city. She gave the man in front of her a quizzical glance and then turned back to the map. _'I don't get it. What's so special about this? It's just Rustboro, Dewford, and Mauville. I wish Brawls, Roxxie or the old man were here. They'd know. Wait…..could that be it?' _She checked the locations again and then lowered the map and turned her attention back to the man in front of her. "At which of these locations was the first raiding party to be killed operating?" The man, who was still studying the wall of flames, grinned and turned back to face the gym leader. "Figured it out, huh? Yeah, the path of the attacks follows the path one would take to obtain this region's gym badges. This is why we believe the culprit to be in Lavaridge. We'll blast him out of his hiding hole, even if we have to destroy the whole town to do so."

He jumped away from the wall with a yelp as the flames suddenly lashed out at him. He rolled along the ground and sprung to his feet, drawing his sword with an annoyed snarl. "What the hell woman?" The map in her hands went up in flames as she grit her teeth and her body shook with barely contained rage. "Are. You. Kidding me?" Her bright red aura burst free from her body, flowing around her form as a mirage of a wildly raging flame. "You intend to destroy my home, on a mere rumor? Do you actually believe that one person could kill that many people by himself? Bullshit! Even if he does exist, he'll end up at my gym sooner or later, by your logic! A raid is completely uncalled for!"

The man only raised an eyebrow and lowered himself in a tensed crouch, ready to jump at a moment's notice. "Under the leadership of you and your family, the city of Lavaridge has shown a lot of 'Anti-Three Nation Government' tendencies. There's a very real chance your city is hiding the culprit. You'll only make it worse by resisting. I will have to report you to my superiors." Flannery's aura darkened in color as she raised her rapier, an icy calm smile on her face. "That's assuming you'll leave this place. I will not let you near Lavaridge!" The man let his head hang slightly and sighed deeply. "I'm afraid you've sealed your city's fate. This is a battle you can't win."

"No one is going to win or lose if you don't move your ass. Has the thought of getting your ass kicked by a girl in front of you subordinates got you so terrified you can't move?" Flannery taunted, the smile on her face slowly changing in to a snarl. Her words achieved their intended effect as the man roared with rage, charging at her with his sword grasped tightly in his hands. Flannery smirked slightly and charged as well. Flames burst from her feet and propelled her forward as if she had been skating.

Both fighters slashed at the other, but it was the enemy commander who hit the ground with a deep gash in his side after they passed each other. "Over all ready?" Flannery asked as she turned around and shook the blood from her blade. "You're just a small fry aren't you?" The man struggled to his feet and growled at her. "Bitch." They charged again, but this time Flannery's rapier met no resistance. She skidded a few feet and turned around in confusion, only then noticing the cut in her arm.

The enemy leader's body had sunk halfway in to the ground and what remained of it turned around and grinned. "The same trick never works twice. Just your luck that you had to be paired against an Earth Master." He rose up out of the ground and let his light brown aura flow freely. " Earth force, Mud Bomb!" Mud flowed up to his palm and formed a huge ball, which he lobbed at Flannery. She skated to the side and the bomb hit the ground, where it exploded. She shielded her face from dirt that the explosion threw up and glanced past them once she felt the wind die down. "Damn." The blast had blown a reasonable crater in to the ground and the grass around it had been signed. _'That would have hurt. Like it isn't bad enough that he has the elemental advantage.'_

She looked back to the leader just in time to see another bomb flying at her. She rolled to the side, the explosion pushing her a little further than she'd expected. She jumped to her feet and then quickly jumped again, leaping over another the second bomb. Another bomb soon followed and she growled as she raised her rapier. "Don't screw with me!" The blade burst in to flame and she cut straight through the bomb. She landed gracefully and both halves of the bomb swerved off to the side and crashed in to the wall of flames. "You're not too original yourself. Did you honestly think those slow bombs could touch me?"

She leaned back and stretched her arms out to the side as her aura swirled around her. "Let me show you the difference between scum like you and a gym leader." Her upper body jerked forward and she opened her mouth wide. "Blazing Art, Fire Blast!" A ball of fire flew from her mouth and shaped itself in to the form of a star once it was a short distance away. The leader frowned and slammed his large sword in to the ground. "Earth force, Terra Hail!" Large spikes of stone and dirt burst up from the ground and slammed in to the fire blast, exploding upon impact. The two attacks struggled against each other for a while, but the a second blast of flames hit the back of the first fire blast and the star tripled in size. The flames easily pushed through the barrage of stone spikes and caught the leader in the chest, throwing him across the clearing. He hit the ground with a thud and rolled a few times to put his burning arm out, before he jumped to his feet again. He charged at Flannery, but she simply fired another fire blast. "Earth Force, Terra Shield!" He stomped on the ground and a large wall of dirt rose up to block the attack. The fire blast struck the wall with a crash and struggled against it, but could not break through. Each time the wall was damaged, dirt rose up from the ground to repair it instantly. Slowly the Fire Blasts' flames began to die out.

The enemy leader made sure his wall could hold out and then laughed loudly. "Not so high and mighty for a gym leader. Nothing can break my Terra Shield with brute force! What now bitch?" He threw his head back and laughed smugly, not hearing the small explosion on the other side of the wall. His laughter caught in his throat as a blinding pain burst from his waist. He glance down to the see the blade of Flannery's rapier stuck in his waist and coming out on the other end. "Yes! It actually worked!" The wall crumbled to the ground and he saw a trail of burnt grass, with Flannery at the end of it. She pulled her blade out of his waist and giggled as he sunk to his knees. "W-What did you do?" She glanced over shoulder and smiled. "Blazing Art, Flame Wheel. My blade is thin, but because of that I could concentrate a lot of force in to one point, if I could get the proper speed behind it. Luckily, you were very close to your barrier. Piercing it would have been kinda pointless otherwise." She kicked him in the chin and he fell on to his back with a dry cough. "N-No way. I-Impossible."

Flannery smiled sadly at him and sheeted her sword. "You thought no one could break a defense like that, didn't you?" She saw the defeated and utterly disbelieving look In his eyes and sat down next to him with a heavy sigh. "As a gym leader, you meet a lot of people who say their team or attack can't be beaten. In the end, it's always just talk."

"Bitch!" The leader spat, putting pressure on to his wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "Acting all calm! Do you think this will change anything?" Flannery hung her head and let her hair hide her face with a sad chuckle. "No, killing you won't change anything. They'll send a new team, I'll kill them and this will go on until I can't beat one of them or I have a bad day." She looked up again and stared at the cloudless sky with an unreadable expression. "When that happens, I'll die and everyone in Lavaridge will too. There's nothing that can be done about this situation." The leader chuckled weakly and glared at her. "That's right. Everyone will die and you can't change that. You'll be overpowered and your city destroyed."

Flannery stood up and let the wall of flames around them die down as she walked away. "Like I said, nothing can be done. At least, I'll go out fighting." She waved over her shoulder and headed for the road, when the leader burst in a combination of laughing and coughing. . "Y-You honestly think you can just w-w- walk away? I'll kill you, you bitch! How dare you insult the Four Nation Army? How dare you insult me?"

"Get medical attention." Flannery muttered as she continued to walk away. "I don't want to kill you, but you're leaving me little choice if you continue to fight." The clearing went eerily quiet and Flannery wondered if the man had given up. Suddenly, the ground beneath her feet rose up and wrapped around her lower legs. She stumbled and looked over her shoulder in surprise, to see one of the enemy leader's hands had sunk in to the ground. The earth around it rippled like water and, upon closer inspection, the earth holding her looked quite a lot like a hand. "I guess the only difference between me and you is overconfidence, you bitch! Sandslash!"

The ground in front of her burst open and a light brown rat with long ,white, claws and thick, brown, spikes climbed out of the hole. "Slash!" The creature shook some dirt off and turned to Flannery with a menacing glint in its eyes. "Shit." Flannery tried to pull her legs free, but the earth crept higher and pinned her arms to her body. A strong wind blew through the clearing and the injured man laughed loudly. "Who's winning now? Sandslash! Take her head off and put it on a pike!" The rat-like Pokémon did not respond and, as she tried to wriggle free from the dirt, Flannery noticed that the Sandslash looked rather dazed. The Sandslash's head shot up when it's master called to it again and it jumped at Flannery, claws raised to strike.

'_I'm gonna die!' _ Flannery thought as she watched the claws heading for her neck. She closed her eyes tightly and waited for the pain, but received none. A light pressure on her shoulder caused her eyes to snap open and she saw the Sandslash use her shoulder as a springboard. It jumped past Flannery and straight at its master. The Pokémon curled in to a ball and thrust his claws down in to the leader's chest, who screamed in pain. The small pokemon ripped its claws free and began viciously tearing up its trainer, staggering drunkenly as it ripped his chest apart. "Sandslash! No! Bad! Stop! Why? Wh-AAAAAGH!" His screams echoed through the clearing, but the Sandslash paid no heed. "Sandslash! NO!" His final plea turned in to a death scream and then a strange gargle as the Sandslash plunged its bloodstained claws in to the man's throat. The creature ripped its claws free and the thump of a head hitting the ground filled the clearing, before all was silent again.

The mauled, headless, corpse slumped to the floor and the earth around Flannery lost its strength and crumbled away. Flannery quickly jumped away from the Sandslash and eyed it warily as the remaining soldiers crept closer.

"It killed the Captain."

"No way!"

One of the men stepped forward for a closer look and frowned. "Driller was the Captain's first Pokémon. Why would it turn on him?" Another soldier took a step closer, but he quickly jumped back when the Sandslash took a staggering step in their direction. "W-What's wrong with it? It almost looks drunk!"

"Slash!" Ignoring the question, the Sandslash jumped forward and cut the arms of the nearest grunt off. It quickly leaped through the shower of blood, before the body could hit the earth, and shot at the next soldier. The man cried out in terror and swung his blade blindly. No one was more surprised than him when he cut the Sandslash's head off. The body hit the ground with a loud thud and Flannery's eyes widened as she saw a black gas drifting from the Pokémon's neck. The soldiers jumped away and watched as more of the black gas drifted from the body, before it slowly evaporated. "W-What the hell was that?"

"Pandora's Paranoia."

Everyone jumped and turned around at the sound of the new voice. A man was leaning against a tree on the edge of the clearing, behind Flannery. He wore a black cloak, the hood of which was pulled low enough to hide his face in the night's darkness. "The attack is called Pandora's Paranoia."

Flannery couldn't help but flinch at the man's voice. It instilled an air of killing intent thick enough to cut with a knife and yet it sounded strangely calm and almost bored. The man reached over his left shoulder as he walked forward and pulled something out from under his cloak with the sound of metal sliding against metal. The unmistakable steel of a sword glinted in the darkness as the man held the weapon loosely in his right hand. The appearance of a weapon snapped Flannery out of her daze and she tightened her hold on her blade.

The rapier's blade burst in to flame and she stepped in the man's path with a defiant look. "I suppose I should thank you. You were the one who saved my life with that attack, right?" She frowned when the man didn't respond and took the opportunity to study him under the light of her flames. The weapon he'd drawn was a very large blade. The handle was wrapped in black leather and she could see some kind of red decoration on it. The blade was long, pure silver, and thicker near the guard than at the tip. She frowned when she noticed his grip tighten. This was a Claymore, a two-handed weapon. Why was he carrying it one-handed?

She looked up and bit bask a gasp when she spotted something far more frightening than the large sword. The only thing that could be seen underneath the man's clothes, were two burning pools of azure. Their unwavering stare felt like it burnt holes through her very soul, yet it left her with a cold chill creeping down her spine. She seriously wondered how the man could stuff so much killing intent in a single look. "Eh, what's your name?"

"Step aside, Princess of Flames." The man's eyes flashed and he shifted his grasp on his sword. "I'm here to deal with those behind you."

Flannery glanced over her shoulder and turned back to the man with a smile. "Those guys? Don't bother, you already killed their leader. I'd say it's taken care of." To her surprise, the man suddenly slashed at her with his large blade. "I disagree." She raised her sword just in time to block, but the sheer force behind the attack knocked her off her feet and sent her rolling along the ground. After stopping abruptly by hitting a tree, she sat up with a groan to see the man walk towards the, now panicking, soldiers.

One of them stepped forward and attempted to look intimidating as he drew a pokeball. "For attacking and killing an officer of the Four Nation Army, you will be arrested. If you choose to resist you will be killed." The man was, apparently, unimpressed as he released his aura and let it flow calmly around him. His aura was black. The shade was so dark, that it seemed to be even competing with the night sky. It constantly flowed around him like a moving shadow and wisps of red could be seen spiraling upwards if you looked closely. The soldier frowned and opened the ball. "F-Fine then. Capture him, Hydros!"

A bright light flooded the clearing. "Blastoise!" A loud thud followed the cry as the large tortoise landed in the clearing. "Toise!" It roared and aimed both of the grey cannons coming out of its shell at the man, who simply raised his weapon and sighed. "Hydros, focus punch!" The Blastiose's trainer yelled. "Blast!" A bright light enveloped the Pokémon's right hand and it charged.

"Watch out!" Flannery yelled when the Blastoise lashed out at the man's head. She closed her eyes and soon heard a loud crash. She opened one eye, expecting to see a corpse, but gasped when she found none. The Blastoise's fist had stopped only inches away from its target. The man's aura had focused in front of the fist and was keeping the struggling tortoise at bay. "This Pokémon is poorly trained. Fool." The man's voice was cold as he spoke and the aura flared. "The weak have no place in battle." There was a blur of movement and a flutter of the cape hid the man's form for a moment. When it fell back down, the man could be seen with his sword held high in one hand

Shock slowly dawned on the Blastoise's face and a small trickle of blood dripped from the corner of its mouth. A thin red line crept up from the bottom of the Blastoise's torso all the way to the top of its head. The right half of the Blastoise sagged down slightly and a fountain of blood erupted , spraying the cloaked man and the Blastoise's trainer. Both halves split apart and fell to the ground.

"H-Hydros? Hydros!" The soldier looked at the slain Pokémon with a look of despair and his eyes shimmered with unshed tears. "No. Hydros….NO!" A deep blue aura burst free from the man and surged around him wildly. "You monster!" The aura shot up, only to split apart when it reached a peak and then fell back down as droplets. Flannery winced when she recognized the aura. _'A water master.'_ The soldier grit his teeth and raised his hands. "He was my starter. Water Technique, Hydro Pump!"

A large pillar of water shot from the soldier's hands and threw itself at the cloaked man, with an unmistakable roar of rushing water. The cloaked man lowered his claymore and raised his left hand, sliding his right foot back as if bracing himself. "Shadow's Art, Back Stabber." A black portal opened in front of his palm. The portal was square and had gold edges, but the inside was nothing but a swirling mass of darkness. The Hydro Pump hit the portal and, to the amazement of Flannery and the soldiers, disappeared in to it. The portal closed and disappeared, leaving the soldier to stare dumbfounded at his enemy. "What the hell did you do? Y-You're not normal." He shouted accusingly as he pointed at the cloaked man.

A warning shout came from the group behind the fighting soldier and he turned around, to find the same portal behind him. "What in the world?" The portal opened again, but this time it was different. A blue light could be seen in the swirling darkness and it was rapidly growing larger. The soldier identified it as his own Hydro Pump, a split second before the rushing water could be heard. "SHIT!" The attack struck him head on and dragged him along, right in to the cloaked man's blade.

The claymore cut through the soldier's flesh like a knife through butter and the man gasped as the force of the water forced him further down the blade. When the pressure finally lifted, he looked down at his chest. The water had cleaned the claymore of blood, but more already dripped from the wound where the blade pierced his chest. He noticed the taste of his blood in his mouth and craned his neck to look at his killer. His sight was already blurry and he could not make out much, but what he could see clearest of all, were two burning pools of azure staring unwaveringly back at him. "M..Mo…Monster."

The man's eyes narrowed and he placed a foot against the soldier's body, roughly shoving him from the blade. The soldier was dead before he hit the ground. The man rolled the corpse over with his foot and studied it for a while, before making an annoyed sound and stepping over it. He shook some of the blood from his blade and turned to the remaining soldiers. "To those of you who think they can flee, let me assure you that you can't. Your lives end here tonight." He raised a hand and slowly pulled his hood back. "To those of you who think they can win if they fight…" The hood fell down to rest at the back of his neck and he lowered himself slightly on tensed legs as he gripped the claymore with both hands. "…Don't bother."

Flannery shivered at the promise of death in the last part of the sentence. She couldn't see much besides the man's eyes in the darkness of night, but she could clearly see his hair. It was soaked from the Hydro Pump and the Blastoise's blood had left crimson stains, but she could see that it was the purest white. It stood out clearly against the darkness. His aura flared again and she grit her teeth. _'This guy. Just who or what is he?'_


End file.
